Job Discussion Forums

[c-way]

I'm pretty new to the Japan forum and hope you guys can give me some good advice on my current situation. I have just recently come to Kyoto from China where I was teaching for the last 8 months for Shane School.

I came here on a tourist VISA from China without a job and hit the classifieds runnin. Two weeks after I got a job with a very small school in Takatsuski, the next city over. My boss has sponsored my working, specialist in humanities VISA, which is right now in processing.

Anyway, There are only two teachers, 3 staff members and the boss. There are two locations and a business that contracts us close to the station and we rotate the locations we go to on different days. The hours are long (11:10-10:40), but we get Sun/Mon and every other Sat. off. The classes are small and all in all the job's pretty easy. The pay is 230,000/ month and could increase if business picks up (a small school thing I guess).

With that said, my boss/owner, who seemed like a pretty nice guy when I first started, has increasingly shown an excessively controlling and paranoid side that is starting to make me apprehensive. It started with getting the VISA, and because I have already started working before my VISA has come back, I am told that my employment right now is technically illegal. So he was very cautious about every step of the process, fair enough. But he then went a step farther when he asked me to not tell anyone that I am living with that I have a job. I stay in a guest house with my girlfriend and we have 8 other roommates, and he said that the VISA immigration people might come to my home and ask my roommates questions about me. Quirky, I thought, but of no real consequence to me and I acquiesced without question.

During training everything seemed OK, but each day there seemed to pop up a new rule that left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm not allowed to have any outside contact with my students, give them my e-mail address or phone number. My pay can increase if there is an increase in students, but my pay can also decrease if there is a loss of students. Even if my classes have finished for the day, say at 7:00, I have to stay in the office until 10:00. I'm not supposed to mention to my students that I live with my girlfriend, even though many of them are adults and its an hour of conversation where they ask me many questions about my personal life.

Now, I sort of took all this with a grain of salt and didn't let my boss's way of doing things bother me, because after all, I needed a job and the job seemed otherwise enjoyable. But Thursday, I was asked to show up 35 minutes early to a 7 minute meeting at one location and then bike to the other location. My boss wasn't even there. And Yesterday he informed me that on Friday, when I have my business class and show up to the company at 12:20, that I would still be required to go to our main location at 11:10, help them open (they dont need help) and take my bike to the company.

I felt this was unreasonable and told him so, upon which he when into a lecture about how because I am an American and new here I don't understand that this is the way that Japanese culture is. He said that we all have to work harder for the greater good, and that in Japan, sometimes that means doing things that are illogical or that don't make sense. He went on to say that if I want things to be 100% my way all the time (insinuating that this is how Americans are) that maybe I would be better suited at one of the bigger schools. This is the first week.

So, now I'm considering leaving the job once my VISA is returned to me, but I want to ask a few questions first that you guys might know.

1. My contract is for 1.5 years, so I am getting a three year VISA. Is there any way my boss, out of revenge, can affect my VISA status once I have obtained the VISA, and does my VISA status change if I leave the company. I ask this because it seems odd to me that I can be sponsored by a school and then just quit the school to find a better job.

2. I have signed a contract, although it is a one page ordeal that hardly looks official in wording. What are the ramifications of breaking my contract, and what recourse would my boss have against me if he wanted to punish me for leaving.

3. Am I being unreasonable? Is this a part of Japanese culture that I am going to have to learn to accept. I was highly offended by what my boss said, but some of it seems to ring true in terms of unquestioning loyalty being a part of Japanese business culture.

I don't want to be a quitter or mess up his school, but if this is a sign of things to come in the next 1.5 years, I am only delaying the inevitable. But thoughts from people who have been here longer are greatly appreciated and sorry for long post, just want to be clear on my situation.
Thanks

[madeira]

Your situation is scary.

Do you know when your visa should be ready? Are you sure it's being processed?

(You do realise that employers don't really have to pay illegal workers....)

Nothing you've described is 'normal Japanese working culture'. The 'salary' is far too low, if you even receive it.

Get out of there ASAP. Hopefully with some cash. Oh, and the visa.

[c-way]

I'm sure my VISA is being processed because I was the one who went to the Osaka immigration office and turned it in.

It should be ready in about five weeks and I am to be paid right around the same time, which coincidentally is right before the December holiday.

So, once I get paid and get my VISA, I should be going home for holiday, I will just tell him I'm not coming back after the holiday.

I'm not worried so much about being paid, I'm worried that he will be able to, I don't know, sue me or something for breaking my contract.
I mean, what good is a contract for the employer if teachers can just leave. I'm wondering what legal measures he could take. I trust he will pay.

[Gordon]

c-way, you own the visa, not the employer. From your description, it doesn't sound very likely you will get paid. Have a back up plan and hopefully you have some savings.

[madeira]

Your 'contract' is illegal. On both ends. Therefore, it's impossible to sue you or do anything besides.... not pay you. Or have someone report you to Immigration.

Another curiosity; I've never heard of employees submitting work visa applications on their own. The company does this, usually...

Anyone else have this experience?

[c-way]

I'm sorry, I may have misstated this.

I went to the Osaka Immigration office and gave them the papers for a certificate of eligibility.

I am suppose to receive this in the mail 4-6 weeks from now, then I need to visit an embassy to get the VISA.

I don't know if that makes a difference, but I definitely went there myself.

[lajzar]

Yes, you have to apply for a certificate of eligibility. In my case, many moons ago, this was then passed on to the employer who applied for the actual visa. That certificate in itself does not have the weight of visa status behind it. It will still take a minimum of 2+ weeks to get teh visa after you have that certificate of eligibility.

[Glenski]

Start looking for another job NOW.
Call immigration and verify that things are being processed. Your employer sounds totally unscrupulous.

He cannot add rules to your contract AFTER you sign it. That's illegal.

The fact that YOU have given papers to immigration for the visa (not spelled VISA, by the way) does not mean that the EMPLOYER has done his part. Verify!!!!

All of his actions about secrecy are huge red flags. Don't expect to get paid, and plan on immigration telling you that there has been no contact with the employer.

[c-way]

[Gordon]

I think the worst condition he imposes is the fact your wages could go up or down, frankly we both know that if business was good, your already paltry salary would stay the same. YOU are not the owner, HE is, so he is the one who should take risks as far as salary and bills. If he has been doing business for 12 years, his business should be able to support you. I would tell him that you want to abide by the contract, he cannot add to it.

I had a similar experience when I just started out teaching (in Korea). My boss broke pretty much every condition on my contract and the law is really against you in Korea. I was able to negotiate my way out of the contract (schools own your contract there), but I stayed 6 months. It worked out OK for both of us. I think you should discuss terms that you both agree on. The longer you go without pay, the less likely he will acquiesce.[/list]

[malcoml]

I think you are being hard on the boss in regards to the salary up or down. I have always worked under these incentive based conditions though I think in this case the 230,000 you are being paid should be the minimum. The salary is also not so different to what NOVA has on offer and I bet they put up with more crap there.

[c-way]

I don't mind the salary thing so much. I don't really expect to see an increase or a decrease in my salary either way, even if students increase or decrease. I think this is just another way of my controlling boss/owner keeping control of every facet of his business.

And I don't mind so much except for the fact that he is an unreasonable and paranoid control freak who has me doing all these unnecessary things for the sake of "just in case" and "team unity" that are a waste of my time. And given that I am already working 11-12 hours a day, I don't think he should be wasting any more of my time.

I sort of figured that if he ever tried to reduce my salary then I would leave at that point as well. But I doubt it will ever come to that because he has explicitly stated that I may have to do things that don't make sense or are illogical and implied to me "put up or shut up".

[Gordon]

Do things illogically? Welcome to Japan. You will soon learn to never ask WHY.

[c-way]

In China it was no different and they asked me to do things that were a little illogical all the time.

The major difference was that they didn't see the things as illogical and when asked to do them I just told them no.

[abufletcher]

Maybe you need to ask yourself what exactly you came to Japan for. If it was to earn money, you're not ging to make any at this job. If it was to get to see a bit of Japan then you're not going to get to do that either. If it was to experience Japanese culture, well maybe that's what you're getting a full dose of here. Most foreign teachers get to live in a bit of a cultural bubble that allows them to act (and work) in ways very different from their Japanese colleagues. Like the other day when I went running at 8:30pm and met one of the women who works in admin. My initial assumption was that she was just out for a stroll around campus (as I was) but immediately realized that, no, she had just finished up at work. I had gone home after my last class at 3:00.

There are often various sorts of "handlers" that serve as a kind of buffer between the foreign teacher and the rest of the institution. In your case it doesn't sound like there's any buffer. You are for better or worse being treated (and expected to act) like a Japanese employee would (i.e. "what's good for the company is good for me" "overtime, what's that?"). I mean this is a country were ever year there are reports in the newspaper of people who apparently just dropped dead from overwork. Foreign English teachers don't normally live in this world but it's definitely there.

I'm not sure if this guy is actually unscrupulous or not. It sounds more like he just has particular ways of managing his small business.